Bonswa from Ayiti!

Site of Our Future Home

Bonswa from Ayiti!

That is Creole for “Good afternoon from Haiti!” It is a warm but quite tolerable Monday afternoon here in Pignon. We had a great weekend and spent our Sunday morning and early afternoon with Christie and Jean Jean Mompremier, their girls and a team from Orange City, Iowa. Jean Jean is a pastor of the Maranatha church in Bohoc not far from here.

We were so grateful to receive the invitation to go to church with them and then enjoy an “American” style meal complete with hamburgers! The kids really got a kick out of that. They also enjoyed playing with several kids, including the Mompremier’s daughters Tana and Kerri. They also got to pet their cats and new puppies, which was a new thing for them as we are constantly telling them, “DON’T TOUCH THE ANIMALS!” They just don’t get what we’re so uptight about. I am not a germaphobe, but I am honestly grateful for the manufacturers of germ-X!

We went to our first “football” (soccer) game last night. Pignon played a team from near Port-au-Prince. It was pretty crazy at times. The players get pretty fired up and so do the fans. It ended in a tie and a mad dash for the one small doorway in the concrete wall. We had to really hold on to the kids for fear they’d be run over. Our evening ended with a DVD of “Funniest Home Videos.” It was an oldie but goodie! We of course do not have any regular TV programming and DVDs are the only thing we can watch. It is only on occasion as we don’t want to start a habit of being able to watch it all the time.

Jared is already being Mr. Fix-it. Our generator was shutting off shortly after being started last Friday night, so he worked on it Saturday and it seems to be working again. He also had to fix the plumbing in the kitchen sink after it started leaking from the drain. I guess you can never get away from home maintenance!

Will and Natalie are doing well and making friends pretty easily even though there is a language barrier. I guess playing is a universal language. Will had a hard day last Friday and said he was staying in Iowa when we got back. Please keep him (and Natalie) in your prayers as this is quite an adjustment.

Today we are burning a huge pile of dried weeds and dead trees removed from the area where we are finishing our house. We were told it could be finished in two weeks, but then realized that it will always be “just two weeks!” It’s just one of those quirky things about this culture. Hopefully the contractor will be coming by today to give us an estimate on cost for completing the house and give us an idea of when he can start. Pray for hard workers and a lot of patience for us.

We are praying that our truck will be ready sometime this week. It’s tough not being able to get to certain places like the airport without waiting for a driver. We are looking forward to seeing the team from Third Church on Thursday. Will and Natalie (and Jared and myself) are really anxious to see Grandma and Grandpa Nikkel as well. We’re praying the weather cooperates so the rain doesn’t bog down the grass airstrip they will come in on.

Our Creole is coming along…slowly! Jared is pretty sharp and has some practice; I however don’t retain things well. The other night our tutor asked me in Creole if I was a good student. I had to reply honestly, “No, I am not a good student.” He just laughed. We really are doing pretty well considering we’ve only been here for 11 days. Feels like an eternity sometimes!

I think we finally have our critter situation under control. For the first several days we had cockroaches, misquitos and flies all over. Then there was the night Will woke us up screaming for Jared because he saw something in the bathroom. Jared told him it was probably just a shadow. Will said it went under the door and sure enough a 4-5 inch centipede came scurrying out. Jared grabbed MY shoe and started beating it, then sprayed it with roach spray. Apparently these are mutant centipedes because it was still going strong. I put the shoe on and stepped on it, and that nasty thing still didn’t die. Jared finally scooped it up in the dust pan and got rid of it. Bugs are a way of life here so we had better get used to it!

I had better close this up as we need to get to the internet café to send it out. Last Thursday night we went fearing it would rain, and it did. The street outside the door of the building was literally a river. The kids stood on the step and watched as branches, leaves and occasionally a bag of trash would float by. We ended being trapped there until about 7:00 when the café overseer let us out another typically locked door. Guess we learned our lesson on that one!

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We know we are blessed because of it.